The New Generation
by DragonFang2011
Summary: Discontinued due to severe symptoms of Writer's Block and no motivation whatsoever... plus, OCs were never my thing anyway. I think I'll stick to Ryuga.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:**

I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight. Just my characters... I think...

* * *

Dear Readers,

This is the sequel to The Painful Truth, and it's about Yumiko and Haruki's adventures as they travel all over the country, and eventually, the world. I'm gonna be switching POVs every few chapters, and I'll be adding a lot of OCs. I LOVE MAKING OCs! So fun!

Just a warning: I'm not accepting OCs.

R&R! Hope you enjoy the story!

~DragonFang2011

P.S. I'm still depressed that Ryuga's dead :( ... But at least he's happy! :')

* * *

I yawned and sat up on the springy mattress of the hotel bed. It was the first full day of my Beyblade journey, and so far, the weather was looking great. I slipped my artificial left leg over the stump of my thigh and fastened it the way the prosthetic-dude told me to. (A/N: I don't know if this is true; technology in the Beyblade world is different.)

Then, I pulled on my jeans easily and glanced over at my friend Haruki, who was still snoring the morning away on the next bed, his mouth half-open and his maroon-red hair messier than usual. As always, he looked pretty good-looking. I hurled a pillow at him. He just snorted, hugged the pillow to his chest, and rolled over. "Five more minutes, Mom," he mumbled drowsily.

I huffed. "Not your mother, Haruki; I'm too young for that."

Haruki's turquoise eyes snapped open, a red blush creeping across his face. "S-Sorry!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes as he fell onto the carpet. "Hurry up; it's almost nine," I informed him, eyeing the clock. He scrambled to put on his blue hoodie over his red shirt, and his red fingerless gloves.

I fastened my Bey-belt around my waist and slipped my socks and violet sneakers over my feet.

Then I helped Haruki tidy our beds and skipped into the bathroom. I straightened my clothes - purple tank top, black jeans, black elbow-length fingerless gloves with stiff wrist padding, silver earrings, and my locket. Then, I tied my long blue hair into its usual ponytail. Five minutes later, I came out, feeling refreshed, and gave Haruki his turn.

When he finished, we grabbed our bags and headed out of the room, making sure that it clicked shut behind us. _Hello, second day of training_, I thought. Suddenly, I noticed that something was... off. I glanced at Haruki and realized what the problem was. "Haruki," I began casually.

"What?" He gazed at me with those blue eyes that used to make me melt into a puddle, but I've gotten used to them.

"Where's your Beyblade?"

"In my Bey-belt."

"Where's your Bey-belt?"

He patted his waist. "Crap." I smirked in amusement as he unlocked the door and went inside to retrieve his equipment. He came out a few seconds later, looking embarrassed. "I really need to take care of Rex better," he said, taking the midnight-blue Beyblade - Torch Rex 125HF out of its holder. The dark purple facebolt with a white T-Rex head design shone dimly in the sunlight.

I nodded in agreement. "Madoka's gonna be so mad at you if you lose that Bey."

He winced. "Don't remind me," he groaned. "Mom could be so uptight sometimes."

I pulled out my cell phone. "Wait 'til I tell her that."

"Don't you dare!" He tried to snatch the phone away, but I stuffed it into my pocket, smirking teasingly. "I won't."

I pressed the down button of the elevator. The doors opened immediately and I let Haruki push the button that would take us to the lobby, then felt the ground shift underneath me. My stomach fluttered nervously. I seriously hate elevators; they make me feel like I'm in a sardine can.

When the doors opened, I walked out as casually as I could, then waited impatiently for Haruki to check us out of the hotel, tapping my foot and yanking my blue bangs.

Haruki glanced at me, shook his head in amusement, and examined the list in the lobby. "There's a tournament in the next city over - Emerald City - in an hour or so," he informed me, plucking a map out of the stand. He folded it and stuffed it into his back pocket. "If we walk, it's gonna take us a few hours to reach it."

"And if we take a cab?"

"Only about an hour," he replied. "But don't you wanna train first? I mean... you just started blading..." He trailed off as I narrowed my violet eyes and glared at him venomously.

"Y-You know, you remind me of your m-mom, the way you glare at me like th-that," he stammered.

"I know."

I dragged him across the lobby. He opened the glass door for me, then followed.

The air was nice and warm, without a cloud in sight, and there was a slight breeze blowing through the city, ruffling Haruki's red hair as he bent over the rather large map, tracing the thick, dark lines with his index finger. He immediately attracted the attention of a few girls, who eyed him as if he was the guy of their dreams (which he probably was), and in some cases, a delicious meal.

I gave them the stink-eye, like, _Stay away from him! He's mine!_ Or it could be, _Quit staring at my friend! I have fists, and I will use them!_ I'd personally go with the latter, because I don't have that big a crush on him, and we were just friends, anyway. Then, I gently grabbed his elbow and steered him around the other pedestrians until we got to a nearby restaurant and sat down in a booth for breakfast.

"Gingka! Hikaru!"

I turned around warily. A tall man was standing just a ways behind our booth. He had a curly blond afro, and was wearing some kind of black suit that made him look like a spy. And judging by that red glass... thingy... on his eye, he probably was - but he wasn't concealing it very well.

"Um... who?" I was confused, so I tugged on Haruki's jacket sleeve to see if he knew the guy. Haruki slammed the map onto the table in irritation, crumpling it into a large wad of colorful paper. "Darn it, Yumiko, you made me lose my place!"

"Sorry."

"Wait," the speaker said. "You're not Gingka and Hikaru." He slid into the leather seat across from us and examined our features. "Must be the hair... no, Gingka's hair's brighter than that... I'm such an idiot."

"Gingka's my dad," Haruki said. The strange guy scratched his head. "Gingka and Hikaru had kids together?"

"Ew!" I exclaimed. The thought was too horrible to bear! I almost threw up in my mouth. Haruki smiled, as if agreeing with me. "Gingka and _Madoka_ are my parents," he pointed out. The stranger's mouth pouted as he said, "Ohh..."

"Hikaru's your mother, right?" the guy asked me. I nodded. "Yes. My dad's Ryuga."

He blinked. "Did you say Ryuga?"

"_Ryuga_," I repeated slowly. "Are you deaf?"

"But-" He was getting annoying. "Oh, I've heard this one before!" I snapped. "Apparently, you people have _no_ imagination whatsoever! Ryuga's a great dad!"

"Never thought I'd hear any of those things that you just said," he muttered. He took a deep breath, as if trying to make himself digest the information he just learned. "You do know that he almost killed your mother, right?" he asked me warily. "Of course," I scoffed. "And the truth almost got me killed. Literally - I ended up in the hospital after getting hit by a truck. Now I only have one real leg." I started to swing my prosthetic leg onto the table, but Haruki put a hand on my knee and kept it down. "No."

The stranger tilted his head in confusion. "How can you be so..." He shook his head and held out his hand. "Tobio Oike."

_Who?_

Haruki's head snapped up, eyes gleaming in excitement. "Captain Capri?"

_Who?_

Tobio nodded proudly. "That's me."

_Wh - Oh, shut up!_ I told myself.

"NO WAY!" Haruki grabbed the man's gloved hand and pumped it up and down enthusiastically. "My parents told me a lot about you! They say that you're the best sniper ever, and that you're really good at being all accurate and stuff and-"

"Kid, you're breaking my fingers."

Haruki let go. "Sorry."

"They really said that about me?" Captain Capri grinned. Haruki nodded.

Tobio smirked, amused. Then, his brown gaze flickered to an alley across the street, where a couple of teens were battling a kid. They defeated the little boy, took his Beyblade, then ran away. A shadow settled on Tobio's face. "Tell your parents that Captain Capri says hi." Then, he got out of the booth and the restaurant, probably off to teach those bullies a lesson. I wanted to cheer him on, but that would look weird.

"Bye, Tobio Oink!" I yelled, waving him goodbye.

"It's 'Oike!'"

"Whatev!" But to be honest, I seriously forgot his last name.

A few minutes later, Haruki and I were staring at platters of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, hash browns, buttemilk pancakes, and great-smelling sausages. I immediately took a little of everything and dumped the food onto my plate.

As he watched me chow down my breakfast, Haruki said, "You eat a lot for a girl."

I nodded, too busy ripping a strip of salty bacon in half with my teeth.

* * *

"Here you are, kiddos! Emerald City!" The taxi driver grinned broadly, showing off his nasty, crooked front tooth - as well as the rest of his yellow, decayed teeth and dark gums - after Haruki handed him a wad of cash. I huffed out of my nose as the bright yellow cab drove down the street. "We should've walked," I grumbled. "It smelled like feet in there."

"Foot cream," Haruki agreed.

"And that snaggletooth," I added.

We shuddered.

"Tournament's that way." Haruki immediately veered right, his long strides quickly covering a good amount of sidewalk as I tried to match his pace. We headed towards a large, round building which probably could've fit three of the stadiums back at home. "Wow," I whispered. "It's _huge_!"

Haruki chuckled. "That's just one of the smaller stadiums."

"No way! I wanna battle _now_!" I exclaimed.

"Calm down," he said, putting a warm hand on my shoulder. "It hasn't even started yet."

"And if it does," I began, smiling broadly. "I will beat everyone and win my first tournament!" I strolled confidently towards the glass door and opened it, but Haruki stepped in front of me, a smirk on his face. His blue eyes sparkled hungrily with the aspect of a challenge. "Don't get too carried away!" he said. "I'm your opponent too, y'know! If you wanna get to the top, you're gonna have to go through me first!"

I ducked underneath his arm. "Done."

"H-Hey!" As I looked over my shoulder, Haruki whipped around and scrambled to catch up with me. I gave my name to the lady in the booth and she put me on the list of competitors for the Beyblade tournament.

Haruki and I impatiently waited in the training room - exercising ourselves and our Beyblades - until the Blader DJ called for the tournament to begin.

It was a long wait until my turn, and there were many strong bladers out there - such as a muscled, blue-eyed blader named Troy; a handsome, dark-haired teen named Kyle; and a green-eyed girl named Athena.

I started to doubt if I could win. I hid my uncertainty from Haruki, who was defeating his own opponents with ease.

I barely won the first round against Marley - a sharp-faced boy with squinty eyes. He and his Beyblade - Mighty Gorgon 125WB - almost destroyed Aquario. _And_ Marley called my Bey "old-fashioned" and "out-of-date," which were pretty much the same thing. But all the same, I was insulted, and drove him into the dust.

As the tournament dragged on, my confidence started to wan even more.

Troy suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Athena and her Cyber Minerva. Kyle emerged victorious from his battle with a boy named Daiki.

Haruki was leaning against a wall, his hands in his pockets and his eyes closed, trying to rest after his win over Minoru and his Magnetic Virgo. I decided to leave him alone - he was probably tired from that grueling match.

Blader DJ announced, "It is the start of the final round! First up is Yumiko against Kaito!"

Kaito was a guy in his mid-teens, and sported a spiky dark blue hairdo, which matched his eyes. He was wearing a black T-shirt with faded blue jeans and black sneakers. He whipped out his Beyblade and placed it onto his launcher. I wiped my sweaty palms on the thighs of my jeans and did the same, trying not to look nervous. Aquario was trembling with power and anxiety.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it... RIP!" Kaito and I yelled. I pulled on my ripcord as hard as I could without jerking my elbow, and watched as Storm Aquario circled the stadium with Kaito's Oceanic Serpent. Both Beyblades exchanged blows, each hit doing more damage than the last.

Kaito smirked. "Strike hard, Serpent! Hurricane Fangs!"

Serpent covered itself in bright, bluish-purple lightning, then charged. I panicked. "A-Aquario! Whirlpool Illusion!"

My Beyblade's form blurred and vanished. It reappeared on the opposite side of the stadium - only to get intercepted by Serpent, still crackling with Hurricane Fangs. Aquario immediately ricocheted away from the opposing Beyblade and was launched out of the stadium at my feet. I bent down and picked it up, somehow unsurprised that I had lost so easily.

"Amateur!" Kaito hissed at me, before calling back his Bey and walking away. "You don't deserve to touch a Bey, much less use one!" He reached his friends at the mouth of the tunnel and said something to them. They glanced at me and laughed boisterously. I stormed towards them - furious - and kicked Kaito in the groin with my prosthetic foot. "OW!" he yelped. "Is that thing like, metal, or something?"

_Yes, it is!_ I wanted to snap at him.

As I passed them, one of them slapped my behind. I whirled around. "_Excuse_ me?"

The burly one laughed. "For having a cute butt!" he said, as if adding onto my sentence.

"Damn you, pervert!" I slapped him - my eyes watering and my face burning - and forced myself to stand straight and dignified until I rounded a corner. Then, I leaned on the wall and slid down to the floor.

"You shouldn't have done that, Cadell."

I peered around the wall. A tall boy - probably a couple of years older than me - was glaring daggers at the Cadell, who smirked. "What? She does have a cute butt!"

The boy narrowed his eyes. Unlike most boys I know, his honey-brown hair wasn't spiked up; in fact, it was silky-looking and reached his shoulders, with a single bang swept to the side. He had a fair complexion, and his eyes were dark gray, like the ocean at its stormiest days. He was wearing a black leather jacket opened over a pale blue shirt, dark jeans with ripped knees, and worn red sneakers. In my opinion, he looked pretty hot; he rivaled Haruki.

"You're an idiot," he told Cadell.

"No, _you're_ an idiot!" Cadell countered.

And that was when Kaito butted in. "Dude, that stupid girl wasn't even a decent blader; the battle barely lasted for thirty seconds!" He jabbed a finger at the brown-haired boy's chest. "So quit defending her! Or is it that you _like_ her, hm?"

"Shut up, Kaito," he growled.

At that, I stood up and walked away as quickly as I could; that didn't stop me from hearing several people - including the ones who weren't in the conversation - laugh.

I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to burst into tears and bawl. After I trudged back into the training room, Haruki gave me a comforting hug. "It's okay, it's okay. It's not the end of the world," he told me. I breathed in his scent and choked back a sob. "I've never been so humiliated in my life!"

Alright, maybe I was overreacting, but I was really embarrassed. NO ONE SPANKS ME IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE! And calls me an... un... undecent blader! That's not even a word...

"It was just one loss, Yumiko," he told me. Suddenly, I realized that he wasn't there when Kaito and his gang harassed me. Where was he? He's my friend; wasn't he supposed to be there when I got back from my match?

As if he read my mind, Haruki's handsome face twisted into a grimace. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," he said. "I don't know what happened, but whoever made you feel this way... I'll... I'll punch 'im in the face, I swear!"

"I'm fine," I assured him. "You just go onto your battle, 'kay?"

Next up was Haruki's battle with Kyle; Haruki lost, and he joined me in sulking in the training room. Everything after that went by in a blur; all I remembered was the winner's name: Athena Megalos and her Cyber Athena.

* * *

"Hey Dad!" I said. I love video-chat. So cool. And handy, especially since I could see my family through my phone. I just heard a muffled _"Hello,"_ since my father was busy sinking his sharp teeth into the flesh of a grilled chicken leg. Isamu was sitting on his lap, his large purple-and-yellow kaleidoscopic eyes reflecting the computer screen. _"Wow!"_ He pointed a finger at the screen. _"I can see Yumiko!"_

_"And Haruki!"_ Mom exclaimed, walking into the living room. She shook rain from her dark blue umbrella. _"How is he? Is he there?"_

"He's in the bathroom," I said carelessly. I had told Haruki about what had happened in the stadium with Cadell, and he was pretty angry, but I calmed him down. I left out the gray-eyed boy coming to my defense; somehow, he was one secret I wouldn't give up. "He'll be out after he showers."

_"At least he knows personal hygiene."_ Mom took off her raincoat and made Isamu move over to Dad's right thigh so that she could sit on his left one.

_"Hikaru!"_ Dad whined, sputtering._ "Move it - your hair's getting in my food. Ptah! And it doesn't taste too good!"_

_"Oh, man up, Ryuga,"_ she scoffed, rolling her violet eyes. She turned her face - with strands of pale, shiny blue hair plastered to it - towards the camera and smiled. _"How's it going? Did you compete in your first tournament?"_

I nodded glumly. "Lost in the final round," I informed them.

_"That's great!"_ Dad exclaimed, cleaning out the remaining bits of meat from the bone. _"I think. But why the long face?"_ he asked between bites.

"Some guys harassed me," I grumbled. "One of them _spanked_ - oops." I hesitantly angled my gaze back to my phone; my mother and Isamu were inching away from Dad, who snapped the now-clean chicken bone between his index finger, middle finger, and thumb. He was surrounded by a fiery red aura, and I could tell that he was trying to control his temper. _"_What_ the hell did they do again?"_ he asked me, probably suppressing a growl.

"It's nothing, really," I said. "I kicked one and slapped the other - no biggie."

He got up and disappeared from the camera's sight. Then, I heard a loud _bang_. Mom quickly hurried towards the source. _"Ryuga!"_ she screeched. _"The back door - aphft! Are you serious? That thing costs _money_!"_

After Dad came back - steaming mad but otherwise unharmed, with a chunk of Back Door in his hands - we talked for several more minutes about random stuff.

I looked outside the window at the dark, starry night sky. It was almost eleven o' clock. "Gotta go, you guys," I said. "We have to wake up early tomorrow."

_"See ya next week, kiddo."_ Dad grinned and carried Isamu - who was sleeping as his snot bubble expanded and shrank in sync with his breathing - away.

"Love ya," I said.

_"You too, sweetheart,"_ Mom told me, then went offline. I turned off my cell phone just as Haruki walked out of the bathroom, rubbing his damp red hair with a towel.

"What did I miss?"

I smirked, shaking my head in amusement, and jumped onto my bed, removing my accessories and tossing them onto the carpet. I removed my jeans (I have shorts underneath) and removed my prosthetic leg. I stored it carefully on a folded blanket that I placed onto the floor and leaned back on my pillow. "'Night, Haruki."

I heard him sigh and pull back the covers of his bed. "'Night Yumiko. Tomorrow, we're training in the mountains."

"Why's that?"

He said nothing.

* * *

And this is the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed reading!

I'll be updating every week or so because 4,000 words a chapter is a lot and there's summer school to worry about.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:**

I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight. Just my characters... I think...

* * *

And to those who have read this chapter already: sorry, don't mind this. It's basically the same thing. I just replaced it because the color of Avery's Beyblade is dark red, not bright green.

Sorry, again!

~DragonFang2011

* * *

Just a warning: I'm doing something new today, which is basically changing POVs to another character besides Yumiko... or Haruki...

* * *

Yumiko POV

"So... tired..." I managed to say, taking a swig of water from my water bottle. "When you said that we were training in the mountains, Haruki, you really meant _in the mountains_." I paused to take a deep breath and massage my wrist. "Can I stop now?"

I was kneeling down in the center of our camp - or clearing - scraping the top of our tree stump table with a scrap of sandpaper. After I ran several laps around the nearby lake. Which was done right after I did a thousand "Shadow Launches."

Training is harsh.

"Alright. I think you're done for now." Haruki smirked. He was bare-chested - with his shirt hanging from his back pocket - and wet from the river, and that wasn't very comfortable for me. Even though he didn't have a lot of muscles, he wasn't skinny either - sort of in between.

I shoved those thoughts out of my head, sighed in relief, and nodded, dropping the sandpaper to the ground.

"I need to clean those fish that I caught, 'kay?" Haruki tilted his head to the side and stared at me questioningly. I nodded. For the last week, we've been crushing boulders and having battles in do-it-yourself stadiums littered with rocks and sand. All we ate were fish and - I almost cried when I first saw them on the tree stump we called a table - squirrels and rabbits...

I wanted to go back to the city so badly. And everything else. I checked my stash of food to find that there was no more candy, cookies, or anything sweet left - just stinky old beef jerky, which was the cheapest thing I could buy. That beef jerky really deserved its name, because "jerk" is spot-on. I thought it would be like bacon, but it turned out that all it did to me was hurt my teeth, hence the "jerk" part.

I turned the large backpack over, dismayed to find that nothing fell out. "Haruki!" I whined. "We need to get back to the nearest town, stat! It's an emergency!"

Haruki burst out of the undergrowth, a string of dead fish in his hands. "What?" he yelped. "What is it? Did you break something? Did something break _you_? Did all of our supplies fall into the river? Do you need to go to a hospital? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? I -"

"We're out of candy!" I cried out pitifully. Then, I stood up and frustratedly pointed to the empty backpack. "There... There was a huge, seven-pound pile of sweets in this bag when we started training here, and now... it's all gone! What the hell happened to it?"

Haruki groaned and swung the string of slimy stinkbombs at me. I missed the glittering, smelly dark gray lumps of scales by inches.

My friend glared at me irritably. "Let's see... the food went into your mouth, you chewed it, it took a trip into your stomach, and I think you know what happens after that. And... you just ate the last piece of gum five minutes ago! I've been counting! And you're chewing it right in front of me!" I plucked the chewed-up pink lump of gum off my tongue and stuck it to the side of our "table."

_There._

"C'mon, Haruki! Must... have... SUGAR!" I moaned, grabbing his left pant leg and rubbing my head against it like a kitten. Then, I looked up at him with my best puppy-dog eyes.

_Candy..._

I guess that I was staring at him with a faraway, love-dazed look in my eyes, because Haruki frowned uncomfortably and looked away, trying to conceal a blush. "When you say it like that and do... whatever you're doing... it feels... horribly... _wrong_," he said.

I backed away and pouted. "Haruki, you know I need food to survive."

"This _is_ food!" He waved the fish in my face again, triggering my gag reflex. I retched and clamped a hand over my nose. "Gross! Get those disgusting little things away from me!"

"Oh - like this?" He grabbed the top of my head and shoved my face into the string of fish that he was still holding aloft. It was so stinky and slippery, and... _yuck_.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I shrieked, shaking my fist at him. I pulled away from him and crawled to the opposite end of the clearing, rubbing my face into a tree trunk and basically trying to get rid of the fish germs. "EW! Ew ew ew ew ew! I got fish cooties, and I'm gonna get a disease that'll make my children grow an extra head each!" I started bawling like a three-year-old.

"You're overreacting," Haruki told me, rolling his - annoyingly adorable - blue eyes. "It's like you're another person when we run out of candy," he added under his breath. He turned around and picked up the fish, then strolled back to the river.

After a few minutes of polishing my Beyblade - and spitting to expell extra germs from my mouth - I stood upand followed Haruki. He was sitting on the river bank with a bloody lump of fish guts in his hand. I almost vomited. Haruki turned his face towards me and jerked his head towards a bright red pile of flesh on a flat rock. "Could you gut that rabbit for me?"

I lost my lunch on the spot - or more specifically, into a clump of weeds.

I never really expected my throw-up puddle to be so colorful... probably because of all those berries and candy that I'd eaten since that morning.

"Yumiko!" Haruki snapped. "That was our food!"

"Which one?" I shot back. "My puke or the weeds?"

"Those _'weeds'_ were our dinner!" he screamed at me. "Until now," he muttered.

"Oops."

* * *

Yumiko POV

I reluctantly bit into a fried fish-on-a-stick... and strangely enjoyed the pale, salty flesh that broke into tiny strands of soft meat as I chewed it. _Better than Mom's cooking_, I decided, shifting my elbows on the smooth top of the table-stump. Dad's always been a better cook than my mother, which is why whenever he's not at home, we'd order take-out.

I inched closer to the campfire to get warmer. It was freezing.

"Did you know that this was all that your dad and Kenta ate when they were traveling together?" Haruki suddenly asked. He gestured to the large leaves laden with colorful, fragrant fruits; wild vegetables and greens; chunks of darkened, fatty rabbit meat; and a couple of newly-cooked small birds. I didn't even know if it was legal to hunt in these woods, but judging how Haruki seemed so relaxed, I guessed that we didn't have anything to worry about.

"I never knew that they traveled together."

"Mm-hm. They did." He took a deep breath. "Back then, Kenta wasn't a really strong blader. Until the talk of the Legend Bladers came up. That was when Kenta decided to go off on his own and find Ryuga, to convince him to help Gingka find the rest of the Legend Bladers. And when your father went off to fight Rago by himself..."

"He lost." I winced. "And he disappeared for a little while. But that was because L-Drago used its remaining power to transport Ryuga to somewhere safe, right?" I was confused. "But Dad never told me why he..."

"All the Legend Bladers were needed to defeat Nemesis," Haruki pointed out. "And since Ryuga was down, they were incomplete. When the others were losing to Rago, he woke up and gave up his Star Fragment for Kenta to inherit."

I snorted and uncrossed my legs to lie down on the ground. "That makes a lot more sense than, 'Coincidence,'" I said, mimicking my dad's deep, husky speech, then going back to my usual voice. "I mean, a Beyblade doesn't evolve just like that."

Haruki laughed. Did I mention that I love his laugh? No - I don't think I did. He leaned back, propping himself up with his elbows, and craned his neck to look up at the stars twinkling in the night sky.

"Yeah," he said, transferring his blue gaze to me.

* * *

Haruki POV

"Hey, Mom!" Yumiko squealed. I peered over her shoulder to stare at the screen of her phone. "Hey, Mrs. Hasama!" (A/N: I think they have unlimited WiFi in the Beyblade World because Madoka always gets to scan the Beyblades and get info... wait, I don't think that her laptop need WiFi... Who cares?)

"Haruki!" Yumiko's mother exclaimed. "I didn't get to see you in the last video-chat!"

"I was in the bathroom."

"And I knew that."

"Sorry." I shrugged. "Is Ryuga home?" I asked, secretly hoping that he wasn't.

Hikaru pouted. "No. He's out kicking somebody's sorry butt in Beyblading."

I sighed in relief. Yumiko and Hikaru glared at me, and I sank to the ground awkwardly. I admit that I was glad that Ryuga wasn't there, because... well... the guy scares me! Before Yumiko and I left to start our Beyblade journey, he threatened me, then told me some... stuff that I couldn't tell anyone about, or he was gonna murder me.

_As if he isn't out to murder me already..._

So, yeah - Ryuga is _very _intimidating. It's probably a natural gift. He didn't need L-Drago to help him threaten people.

"You're talking about my father, you know," Yumiko pointed out through gritted teeth.

"He scares me!" I yelled, defending myself.

"Who scares you?"

_Speak of the devil... _I gulped and inched sideways so that I was out of sight of the camera, but could still see the screen from the side. Yumiko beamed and said, "Hi, Daddy!" (A/N: She's always been a daddy's girl.) Ryuga grinned. "'Ey, Yumi! How's my little girl?" He took off his black leather jacket and dropped it onto the floor.

Yumiko rolled her eyes. "Daaaaad!" She glanced at me and blushed.

"Oh, is Haruki there?" Ryuga's tone grew serious. "Did he try anything on you?"

"NO!" Yumiko and I shouted, avoiding each other's eyes. Then, Yumiko turned her eyes to the ground. "Well..." she began, rolling her "e" and "l"s.

"WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO?" her father screamed. Yumiko took a deep breath.

"He... He won't let me have candy!" she wailed.

I tentatively moved into the camera range, and waved meekly. "Hi."

Ryuga's left eye twitched. "That's _it_?"

"IT'S CANDY!" Yumiko screamed.

"I grew up without eating that much candy," Ryuga said carelessly.

Yumiko gasped and clutched at her chest as if she might faint. "You're so brave, Dad," she whimpered.

"Ryuga!" Hikaru groaned. "Pick up your jacket."

The Dragon Emperor smirked. "What's the password?"

Hikaru blushed. "_Please_..." she said. Ryuga gently pressed his lips against hers and they each put a hand on the camera lens. For two minutes and twenty-seven seconds, all Yumiko and I heard were sounds of kissing... and a few moans. Then, we heard a thud and they weren't in front of the laptop.

"Hah!" Hikaru panted. "Ry... Ryuga! Not now! Ohh my Go - Mm! Ah! Laterrrr...!" She yelped.

"Dad!" Yumiko said.

Ryuga's head popped over the side of the desk. His hair was messed up, and I think that he had a dribble of saliva on his chin. He stared at us, looking like someone who had just been woken up rudely. "What?" he snapped gruffly.

Hikaru clumsily stood up. Her shirt was undone, and so was... I turned away, feeling my face heat up. Then, Yumiko deadpanned, "Mom, I could see your boobs."

"I apologize... You could turn around now, Haruki." I whirled around to face the camera again, and was just in time to see Hikaru poke Ryuga's forehead, nearly toppling him over. "This was all your fault!"

"Heh... You know you liked it." Ryuga positioned himself behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and sucked on her neck, whispering something into her ear. And judging from Hikaru's scarlet blush, it was probably something dirty. Ryuga rubbed his hands up her stomach and down again in slow, rhythmic movements before placing his lips against Hikaru's neck again.

She moaned in pleasure, her eyes looking up. "You... You dirty little... bit me... ah... feels... good... Mph!" she squeaked. "Why can't you wait until we get to the bedroom?"

Ryuga's yellow eyes glinted mischievously. "We're going to the bedroom, kiddos!" he said enthusiastically, sounding like a drunken man. He hoisted Hikaru over his left shoulder - ignoring her indignant yelp - and held her there with his left arm. "Ryuga! What the hell are you doing?" she shrieked. "Put me down! Ryuga!" I could see her pounding her fists on his back. Ryuga smirked. "No."

Hikaru growled, and looked over her shoulder. Her face was as red as a tomato. "Bad boy! Put me down _now_! I need to talk to my daughter!"

"Bye, Mom!" Yumiko sang, wiggling her fingers. Ryuga slapped his right hand against Hikaru's behind - then squeezed it several times - making her squeal, "You pervert!" Ryuga's smirk just grew bigger, and I bet that his ego did too. "We're goin' to the _bedroom_!" he crowed victoriously. Then, he looked directly at the camera. "See ya next week, Yumi!" He eased the laptop screen down.

They were offline.

Shaking her head in amusement, Yumiko turned her phone off and stared at me awkwardly. "Sorry about that. It was... _way_ shorter than I expected it to be..."

"Your dad is..." I trailed off, stopping myself from saying something that would definitely offend her.

She laughed, sitting on her heels. She stared at the sky affectionately. "Yeah. But we all love him."

"He still scares me."

Yumiko narrowed her eyes at me playfully, and just then, I realized how much I love her smile. It always makes me feel like smiling back. And her eyes too - such a beautiful shade of honey yellow. They're identical to Ryuga's by the color, but only by the color - the way they look... well... it's complicated...

I blushed and turned over so that my back was facing her. "Go to sleep."

"Okay," she said in a quiet voice.

* * *

Athena POV

_These guys are annoying me._ I blew a damp strand of black-and-gold hair out of my face and eyed the gang of teenage boys in front of me with disgust. It was in the middle of the night - probably ten or so - and I was itching to get a move-on and arrive at a nice hotel.

The street was lit up with bright orange-yellow streetlights, but I was backed into an alley. I clutched the strap of my messenger bag.

"I told you to scram, imbeciles!" I growled haughtily, my head held high and my hand hovered over the black box hanging on a golden chain around my neck. I was just about ready to take out my Cyber Minerva and finish the goons off.

The one in the middle - a scrawny, gangly boy who looked like he was in his mid-teens - smirked. "I don't think so, beautiful." He started to move forward, a hungry, predatory glint in his tangerine eyes. I whipped out my golden launcher and snapped open my necklace, letting my Beyblade fall into my waiting palm. I snapped Minerva onto the launcher. "Take one more step towards me and I'll churn you into butter."

The dude stepped back. "Come on, sweetie," he crooned. "I don't want to hurt you."

Two of his companions grabbed my arms, causing me to drop my launcher. Their leader - presumably - stepped forward to slide a cold hand down the front of my skirt and into my leggings. I screamed in a high-pitched note - which I rarely did.

"Let it RIP!" The dark red flash of a Beyblade bolted into my line of vision and exploded in my attacker's face. He fell onto his rump and ran away. His friends followed. Blushing, I snatched my launcher - Minerva still attached to it - off the ground and pointed it at the newcomer.

"Get the hell out of here, Dodo Head," I snarled. "I need to hunt those suckers down."

"You don't need to do that." The boy ducked out of the shadows. He had shoulder-length silky-looking honey-blond hair with a curved bang across his forehead. His complexion was fair, but slightly tanned. His eyes were a frightening stormy gray - like the eyes of the goddess Athena. The articles of clothing he had on included a black leather jacket, a powder-blue shirt, torn dark jeans, and red shoes.

I hated him instantly, because I didn't like boys. But he did look slightly familiar...

He smiled at me, and I noticed that he had a dimple on the left side of his mouth.

"And why the hell not?" I demanded.

His grin widened, and his gray eyes didn't seem so intimidating anymore. He leaned against the brick wall. "Because you need to clean up, and I don't think they're gonna let you into any hotel looking like _that_." He gestured to me.

"I'm sure that it's not _too_ bad..." I looked down at myself and groaned. My clothes were splattered with mud, dirt, and scummy water, and my shoes have been in better condition before today. My hair smelled strange too - perhaps from falling into several rain puddles that have gathered since this morning's drizzle.

"It's gonna rain, you know," I said. Thick cumulonimbus clouds were gathering in the sky above, and I could smell the scent of rain in the damp, cold air. The boy noddes and beckoned for me to come, and quite stupidly, I did. Anyone who invites a complete stranger to their home has got to be up to something.

"Oh yeah, and the name's Avery."

"Athena. So your name's Avery, huh? What's your Beyblade's name? Where're your parents? Do you have any siblings?" I was so busy staring at the back of Avery's blond head - trying to put a finger on who he was - that I stumbled into a puddle. I hissed as I shook some of the filthy water out of my shoes. I put my Beyblade belt and necklace into my bag, just in case it rained.

Avery looked back and grinned. "You're awfully curious about stuff, aren't you?"

"I don't like being kept in the dark."

"Huh. Too bad; you're gonna be in the dark for a while."

"Hmph."

As we were walking across an empty street, a flash of lightning appeared in the dark sky - giving Avery's hair a lovely silvery glow - followed by a clap of thunder. I sped up my pace until I was practically breathing down my companion's neck. Soon, we were drenched, and I was clinging to his back - trying to soak up some of his warmth. Water slid down the back of my neck, and my sodden shirt and skirt clung to my body.

"Here." Avery took off his leather jacket and handed it to me. Eyes wide, I glared at him; I didn't like people helping me. But I hated the cold as well, so I took the jacket with shaking hands and slipped my arms through the sleeves, pulling the collar up to cover my neck. The insides of the jacket were warm and dry, although the wetness of my clothes seeped into the downy fabric.

I sighed.

Avery sent a backwards glance at me and turned his gray eyes back to the front.

I didn't notice that he had stopped until I literally crashed into him, my forehead colliding into the nape of his neck. He turned around, sending me an irritated glance. I glared back, growling.

The brick apartment building was four stories high and five rooms wide, each room armed with a balcony.

"This is my place," he said, inserting a key into the stainless steel door lever. He swung the door open and stepped inside. "Up the stairs," he said. "Fourth floor."

I shoved past him, tiptoeing up the wooden stairs until I came face-to-face with a sign that said, "FOURTH FLOOR." Avery walked down the hallway - past several doors - and stopped at the last room to the left. He turned the brass doorknob, opened the door, and flicked the lights on.

I breathed in the smell of cooked food, and crushed leaves, as well as an indistinguishable, fragrant scent that the jacket seemed to have.

No, not leather.

I felt so awkward inside a guy's home... alone... with only Avery for company. The rain had soaked through his blue shirt - darkening the fabric - and outlining his six-pack-abs-in-progress. I sneezed.

Avery opened the closet on the right-hand side of the short hall and took out a clean towel. He tossed it to me and jerked his head towards the door behind him. "There's a bathroom. Take a shower." He grabbed my bag and placed it onto the floor at his feet.

I fumbled with the doorknob as I closed the door, and started to peel all of my clothes off. I placed the leather jacket onto the counter and tossed my wet clothes into the round sink before stepping into the tub and sliding the shower curtain shut. I blasted the hot water on and started rubbing the soap all over my body, then lathered shampoo into my hair. After several minutes, I turned the water off and grabbed the towel, wiping myself down with it. Then, I wrapped the soft towel around myself and wrung my hair out into the sink.

I busied myself by washing my clothes and wringing it, before rolling the partly-dry fabrics into a tight roll. I opened the bathroom door and wandered into the living room. Avery had only a towel wrapped around his waist as he snacked on a bag of chips - his eyes glued on the TV.

"I'm done," I said.

Avery hurried past me, pressing a bundle of dry clothes into my stomach. "Just hang your wet stuff on that rack over there. And put... put those clothes on." He disappeared into the hallway.

I carelessly undid the knot of the towel, let it fall to the floor, and kicked it to the side. I slipped on the oversized green T-shirt and baggy black shorts, then draped my wet clothes over the metal rods. Then, I delicately sat down on the edge of the couch.

I looked around the room.

By the time Avery came out of the bathroom - dressed his usual attire, minus the jacket - I was sprawled on the couch, devouring his food. "I see you've made yourself at home," he said. I just popped another potato chip into my mouth.

Avery picked up my towel - blushing - and hung it next to my clothes. He plopped down next to me and dug his hand into the bag to take out a handful of the junk food.

* * *

I think that this is my longest chappie ever!

GRRR! Just submitted a RyugaxHikaru drawing on deviantart this week! I feel lonely... because most of the RyuHika stories are written by me... and I'm getting bored...

XO WHY DO I HAVE TO LIKE CRACK PAIRINGS?

This story is way too extreme even though they're thirteen-year-olds... some of them...

Yumiko and Haruki: 13

Athena: 14

Avery: 15 and a half


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:**

I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight. Just my characters... I think...

Wow, Fanfiction is _SLOW _this week. And I'm feeling lazy, so sorry that this chapter is only half as long as usual.

* * *

Yumiko POV

_I was floating aimlessly in a dark void._

_"Where am I?" My voice sounded stuffy and muffled, as if I were wearing a mask. I swung my arms, trying to keep myself from flipping upside-down, but I wasn't even sure which direction's up or down. "Somebody? Hello?"_

_Something flickered in front of me. I squinted my eyes and spotted a tiny dot of light. I started to propel myself towards it - it was probably an exit - but as I paddled my legs once, a searing heat surged through my body and the dot got bigger, making me yelp in pain._

_It wasn't an exit. It was an orb of fire. And it was growing bigger by the second._

_I tried to kick away from it, but it was like moving through syrup. I screamed as the first tongues of flame engulfed my skin._

_I was burning, but strangely, I wasn't feeling anything..._

I woke up on the sun-warmed ground and sat up, panting heavily. My skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat. I noticed that Haruki was already gone, probably off to get some grub to last us for the day.

_What a weird dream..._

I stretched, coaxing my stiff limbs back into normal working condition. I put on my prosthetic leg - taking even greater care fastening it around my thigh - before lighting a tiny fire. I gently blew on it - encouraging it to grow bigger - and watched in strange satisfaction as golden-red flames sprang upwards, devouring the strips of dried grass and wood that I tossed into the fire pit.

It was weird how I wasn't afraid of lighting the fire after that dream, but I wasn't.

Somehow, the fire in that dream was soothing. Like one of my parents' hugs, or Haruki's smile...

I sat down next to the growling, crackling flames and waited for Haruki to return, gently easing the tip of a stick into the amber mini-inferno and watching - mesmerized - as the broken splinters on top caught fire.

* * *

Haruki POV

I plucked a ripe Kousa Dogwood berry from the branch dangling above me and stuffed it into my backpack, where the other fruits and gatherings were waiting. There were a lot of Kousa berries that time of year, and I busied myself with choosing the largest slightly-heart-shaped berries from the abundant, heavy boughs and checking the spongy, lumpy red skin for any signs of rot.

I wiped one on the hem of my red shirt and popped it into my mouth. It was nice and sweet, as expected. _Hah, and I got here before the animals ate all of the berries._

Snatching a few more of the red fruit from the tree, I hiked further away from camp, keeping an eyes out for the snares that I had set up the previous day.

I spotted a dead rabbit hanging from the thick wire and took it out, carefully resetting the snare. I continued for another hour, picking up more game as I made my way towards the nearby mountains. I was hoping to run into my uncle Hyoma, but I scanned the face of the rocky incline repeatedly and saw no sign of him. I thought of going to Koma Village, but I didn't want to leave Yumiko alone in the forest.

Then, I remembered something that Uncle Hyoma had said about the forests near Koma:_ "You don't want to get too close to the mountains with fresh kill - the scent of blood's gonna attract the wolves."_

_Crap._

So, I turned around - feeling more alert than ever - and started walking back to the campsite, careful to hunch over the meat. I picked up the pace, weaving through the trees like there was no tomorrow. There was nothing I feared more than wolves. One time, when I was a child growing up in Koma Village, I spotted a large wolf in one of the alleys; it had gotten through the secure walls that bordered Koma territory. It had growled at me.

... That's... pretty much it.

But seriously, I have major Wolfaphobia. Or Cynophobia, if you want to describe it as a fear of dogs.

Small dogs: _I like 'em._

Big dogs: _I can tolerate them._

Big dogs with pointy ears and attitudes:_ I stay away from them._

Wolves: _RUN! _RUN!_ RUUUUUUUUUUUNN!_

So, yeah. I'm afraid of wolves.

It didn't exactly help when I came face-to-face with three wolves, still sleek and quick with their summer coats. They were too small to be a whole pack, but I was pretty sure that the alpha sent them out to hunt for food.

How did I know? Well, let's just say that it's instinct.

Okay, one of them was burying a dead rabbit at the foot of a tree.

The wolf in the middle was large, with gray fur - probably the oldest. Hey, since I have Wolfaphobia, I research wolves during my spare time. Behind the old wolf were two younger ones - a healthy-looking one with a reddish-brown coat, and one (the wolf that buried the rabbit) with a dark gray pelt and a long, lean body.

Anyway, I was petrified with fear. My mind was telling me to - and I quote from my reaction to wolves -_ "RUN! _RUN!_ RUUUUUUUUUUUNN!"_ But my legs refused to respond. My heart was pounding so quickly that I could feel its vibrations through my body. I was sure that the wolves could hear it.

The lead wolf bared his teeth and growled. The other two followed suit.

I wanted to act all Ryuga-like about the situation and stare the animals down - maybe even scare them away with a growl of my own. But instead, I did what the typical macho man like me would do - I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran, waving my arms in the air like a crazed maniac.

The wolves gave chase. I could hear their yelps, snarls, and barks not far behind me... getting closer, and closer.

I didn't care if Yumiko teased me about being a wimp anymore. The only thing that was on my mind was: _"RUN! RUN, YOU IDIOT, RUN! RUN, DAMN YOU! FASTER, FASTER - AND DON'T LOOK BACK OR YOU'LL WET YOURSELF!"_

So I did. Run faster, I mean... not look back or wet myself... although I seriously felt like doing the latter. And I jumped up clumsily and dug my fingernails into the rough bark of a tree. I scrambled onto a tree branch, my foot barely missing the dark wolf's sharp teeth. Terrified, I hoisted myself as high up the tree as possible.

* * *

Athena POV

I opened my eyes reluctantly and slowly eased myself off the couch... _Oh yeah_, I remembered. _Avery_.

"Here's your breakfast." The guy I was thinking about tossed a large rectangular box at me. I eyed it in disgust. "These things are filled with carbs," I sneered, tossing the box to the coffee table in front of me. I stood up and stalked across the room over to the kitchen counter irritably. "Don't you have anything else?"

"No."

I scoffed. "You're kidding."

"No."

I rolled my eyes and snatched my now-dry clothes off the rack and raced Avery to the bathroom. I slipped in before he did and almost slammed the door on his fingers. Not the best way to treat your host, but hey, I'm not an easy person to get along with.

I changed out of Avery's old clothes and put on my own, sliding on my Beyblade equipment and the necklace that held my Cyber Minerva. Then, I washed my face, ran my fingers through my hair, and got out of the apartment, grabbing my bag on my way to the door. "Thanks for the help, Dodo," I called over my shoulder. "Bye."

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" I heard him say quietly.

I had no idea why I insisted on calling Avery "Dodo" even though I knew his name. I scrolled down in my head about the definitions of "dodo." He didn't look extinct, he didn't look like an old-fashioned person, and he certainly didn't look stupid. So why...?

I think too much on pointless things. _Avery. Dodo. The nickname sticks. Get over yourself, Athena._

I stopped to pick up a donut and a cup of coffee from a nearby cafe, then proceeded towards the main road with long, quick strides. I wanted to get to the nearest tournament ASAP.

* * *

Haruki POV

"Go away, mangy mutts!" I yelled at the wolves, shaking my gloved fist at them. They kept on snarling and clawing at the tree. I was tempted to stick my tongue out at them, but I decided to do the mature thing - as in, scream for help.

"HELP!" I yelled. "Yumiko, help! I'm stuck up a tree with wild wolves trying to eat me! YUMIKO!"

* * *

Yumiko POV

_Zzz..._

* * *

Haruki POV

I have been yelling for about five minutes, and there was still no answer from Yumiko. _Gr... I guess that I have to get out of this myself._ I furrowed my eyebrows in determination and gritted my teeth. The wolves were still barking ferociously. One of them - the red wolf - had managed to find a neighboring tree with low branches. I knew that some wolves could climb trees; I just hoped that these couldn't.

Unfortunately, my luck wasn't the greatest.

Red Pelt began to grow confident, using knots and gauges in the bark to hoist itself up the tree. I felt something soft rub my thigh and looked down. _Crap; the rabbits! That's what they're after!_ I slapped myself on both sides of my face. _Stupid! Stupid!_

I unfastened the game from my belt with trembling hands and tossed it down the tree. The wolves clustered around it excitedly and lifted it into their jaws before trotting away. I let out a sigh of relief and slid down the tree. I was glad that Yumiko wasn't there to see me - that would've been embarrassing.

It took me a while to retrace my steps back to camp, but when I got there, Yumiko was sprawled on top of the table stump, sleeping peacefully.

_Of course._

I sighed, unpacked the fruits and greens that I had gathered, and set my findings next to the fire.

"Yumiko, wake up!" I said. "It's time for breakfast!" I nudged her fake foot, which wasn't covered with her sneakers. She kicked me in the face with it. "OW! That better've been an accident, Yumiko!" I snapped, rubbing my jaw. "'Cause that really hurt!"

"Go away..." she mumbled.

I sighed. "Then you leave me no choice." I bent over her and started stroking her side. "Tickle, tickle, tickle..."

"GAH!" she shrieked. "STOP THAT! I'M UP! I'M UP!" She punched me in the jaw, right where her foot had hit me. I stumbled back and chucked a Kousa berry at her, which she caught in her mouth. "That's the second time you hit me today!" I yelled.

"Sorry!" she said. "It's not like I ask you to wake me up at like, eight o' clock."

"Actually, you did," I reminded her. Before we went to video-chat with your parents, you told me to wake you up at _seven_! And..." I scanned my phone. "It's twelve!"

"Well!" Yumiko dug into my bag and pulled out the vegetation. "Where's the meat?"

I glowered at her. "Don't tell me that you're gonna whine about the meat, too! For your information, I was stuck up a tree with three wolves trying to bite my feet off, while you were curled up in the sunlight, sleeping like a baby!"

She snorted and popped a berry into her mouth. "Not my fault you decided to take a hike."

"I was getting food!" I snapped. "The least you can do is thank me!"

"Thank you," she said, rolling her amber eyes.

I felt like throwing a tantrum. "That's not what I meant! You're so ungrateful!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!" And the tantrum began. "You're so selfish and stuck-up, when you can't even win a tournament! You don't appreciate everything I've done to prevent you from dying here, and to become a better blader! You're just like Ryuga!"

"Don't bring my father into this!" Yumiko growled. "I don't need your help to survive! I don't need your help to become stronger! I can do that _on my own_! We're done here!" She picked up her bag and stormed out of the clearing. I kicked dirt over the fire to smother it, then sat down on the tree stump. "Geez! What's wrong with her?" I clenched my fists. "I'm the one who's doing all the work here!"

Two hours passed, and Yumiko still hasn't come back.

_Crud_, I thought._ Ryuga's gonna kill me._

I packed up my belongings and set off in the direction Yumiko had gone to.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:**

I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight. Just my characters... I think...

* * *

Athena POV

I opened my Bey case to examine Cyber Minerva, and found it empty. I was stunned - frozen, in fact, that someone would even have the lack of humanity to steal my Beyblade. _Who did it?_

_Oh, God. Avery_. I whirled around and started sprinting back to his apartment, which was only seven blocks away. _He's so dead - I knew I couldn't trust him._

I quickened my pace, determined to get my Beyblade back. As I rounded a corner, I ran smack into someone.

"OW!" I fell on my butt onto the cement sidewalk. "Watch it, you clown!"

"That's not very nice." A pair of large familiar gray eyes stared right back at me.

_Avery!_

He crossed his arms, a stoic expression on his face. "What are you doing on the ground?" I stood up, dusted myself off, and grabbed the front of Avery's shirt. I shoved him against a wall. The people around us backed away, muttering.

"Lover's spat!" someone yelled.

"Give me back my Beyblade _now_!" I growled at Avery. He put his hands up in surrender, his lips twisting into a mischievous smirk and his gray eyes narrowing relaxedly. "Alright, alright," he said. "No need to get your panties in a twist."

I slapped him for that last comment.

He rubbed his cheek and his honey-blond eyebrows arched down a little in a frown. "Do you want your Bey back or not?" He pulled Minerva out of his jacket pocket and handed her to me. "I didn't steal it - I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't damaged. There was a huge crack in the performance tip, and I had to stay up to repair it. If I didn't, you'd have a hard time switching from HF to S and back again."

I hesitantly took Minerva from his warm hands and examined her. "I don't remember her having a crack anywhere!" I snapped.

"Maybe it's because you don't take care of her that much!" he said cockily. "You spend so much time training to become stronger because you're so weak!"

That was a major blow to my pride as a blader... and it was very hurtful. But I didn't show it. "Oh yeah? I get Minerva fixed every week even if she's not damaged! So why the hell are you accusing _me_ of not taking care of my Bey?"

Avery shrugged. "No reason; I just like annoying you."

I growled, and added, "I train with her all the time, and we won tons of battles together, including against that jerk Kaito!"

"If you're really that strong," he said. "Then why don't you battle me?"

"You're on!" I yelled.

* * *

Haruki POV

"Yumiko?" I shouted. "Yumiko? Come out, come out, wherever you are! Or else your dad's gonna shove his hand down my throat and pull out my guts! C'mon! You know how scary he gets! Please! I'm sorry!" I stopped at the sound of a metallic creak.

I turned towards the tree closest to me. "Y-Yumiko?"

Cold amber eyes peered at me from behind the tree, and for a second, I was reminded of Ryuga. I mentally punched myself. _Haruki Hagane, quit being such a wimp! God, the guy's my greatest nightmare... I guess that's natural, since he and Dad are like, rivals, and stuff..._

But it was still creepy.

"Hey, Yumiko!" I tried to sound cheerful. "Listen, I really didn't mean what I said - I was just mad. So... are we cool?"

The yellow eyes blinked. "No."

I sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness; I thought I was d - wait. What do you mean, 'No?'" I almost yelled the last part.

"No," she repeated, slipping out of the shadows. Her hair shone brightly in the sun like blue silver. She tucked a smooth bang behind her slightly-pointed ear in annoyance. I've never noticed how sharp and cat-like they were...

Back to the subject. "Why not?" I asked.

"_Because_ you insulted me!" Yumiko crossed her arms, rounded the tree, and leaned on the trunk. "You insulted my Beyblading skills, _and_ you insulted my _father_! _Nobody_ insults my Beyblading skills! Or my father!" Then, she raised her index finger and pointed it at me. "But mostly my father, 'cause you're sorta right about my Beyblading! And for your information, I'll always love my daddy no matter how evil, twisted, bitter, sadistic, scary, intimidating, selfish, ungrateful, childish, perverted, or stupid he may seem to other people!"

It was kind of unsurprising that she said all of that in the same furious tone; she was _mad_.

"Whoa whoa whoa - wait!" I yelped. "I never called him stupid!"

She pretended to cry. "No, but Kyoya did!"

"He was just kidding!"

She growled and held up a fist. "Wanna fight about it?"

"Dude!" I held up my arms in surrender. "I'm so sorry for insulting you and your spoiled, bratty personality; your ghastly, appalling, and atrocious Beyblading 'skills;' and your severely crack-headed whackjob-slash-nut of a father."

There was a long silence before Yumiko finally decided to answer; "I accept your apology, even though it was a horrible one." Then, she put her fist against her palm and gave me a mock bow. I rolled my eyes and adjusted my backpack strap. "C'mon, what d'ya say we get out of here and buy some candy?" I asked her.

"That's what I'm talking about!" she whooped, clapping her hands. "Lead the way!"

I grinned, happy that she forgave me so easily. But as she grabbed my hand and let me tug her towards the train station, I could feel her muscles tense. _She hasn't forgiven me, after all..._

I frowned under my red bangs. _Me and my big mouth._

* * *

Athena POV

"Ready to get your butt kicked?" I yelled.

"No." Avery was standing on the other side of the large stadium, his face devoid of any emotion. In fact, he looked kind of bored, which was kind of offensive.

_I'm gonna have to fix that_, I thought to my left hand around my golden launcher handle, the other on the lid of my necklace. I pulled out Minerva - smiling at the beautiful golden shine of my Bey - and put her onto my launcher.

Avery nonchalantly fiddled with the fusion wheel of his Beyblade.

"3!" I shouted, impatient for the battle to begin.

He smirked, gave the face bolt one last twist, and fitted his Bey onto his metallic red-and-black launcher. "2!"

"1! Let it... RIP!" I yanked back the string launcher and watched gleefully as the two Beyblades flew into the stadium. "Go, Minerva!"

The golden Beyblade moved in to smash into Avery's, but the attack was ineffective. I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

I clenched my fists. "That's not fair! It should've at least been pushed back!"

Avery looked on - his hands in his jacket pockets; "You shouldn't complain like that," he said. "It's not like you're the Number 1 Blader in the world, anyway."

_Ouch. Burn._

I growled. "That's a cheap insult to my Blader's Spirit!" Minerva swerved in again.

A good three minutes passed, and Avery's Beyblade was still showing no sign of losing. Cyber Minerva barreled towards the opposing Bey for another strike.

As soon as it made contact with Avery's Beyblade, an explosion burst out like a glowing mushroom, enveloping the stadium with specks of debris.

I smirked. "Beat that, punk!"

He sighed. "Can you at least entertain me a little? Manticore!"

A gust of wind cleared the dust from the stadium and revealed our Beyblades. Minerva was still spinning.

And so was Avery's blood-red Manticore. Both Bey and blader were acting as if nothing had happened.

"What?"

"I've seen that move from you already!" Avery sneered.

_You've seen it before?_ I thought back to the last tournaments I have battled in... a flash of dark blue eyes filled with malice as we duked it out at the final battle... _He was with Kaito, _I realized.

Avery's next words made me look up angrily. "You know, I never really thought that girls should be allowed to battle. They're so _delicate_." He smirked. "Like you."

I growled. "You sexist pig!"

That burst of anger only gave him the opportunity to hit my Bey again. _Cheater!_ I wanted to yell at him. But I didn't want to sound like a whiny baby, so I held my tongue.

I watched helplessly as Minerva was pushed back further.

_No way; I don't lose._ I gritted my teeth in determination and evened my breathing. "Don't get mad, Athena," I told myself. "If you get mad, you're gonna lose control." I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. "Calm... calm..."

I exhaled heavily. "... Calm..." I opened my eyes.

I looked closer at Manticore. Avery was playing with the fusion wheel before the battle. From when he had taken it out of his Bey case, the fusion wheel was slimmer. Now... it had thickened by a few millimeters. He knew from experience that my Bey was an Attack-Type, and now he's wearing it out by going on the defensive side. What a punk!

_One way to show him._

"Minerva! Special Move: Wisdom's Grace!" A glowing golden woman with long, curly hair and a flowing toga materialized over my Beyblade. Her white-hot eyes glowed from underneath her Greek helmet as she stabbed her spear into the ground. A crackling sound echoed throughout the stadium like lightning as a bright golden orb swelled from the place the spear had hit. Deep cracks snaked through the stadium like veins, soon being filled up with golden light.

"Poison Barb!" A massive red beast emerged from the red Beyblade, towering over my Minerva by inches. It had the body of a reddish-brown lion, the paler face and ears of a human, and a black tail ending in a scorpion-like sting. Black spines lined the base of the sting.

The beast roared – it had a mesmerizing voice that sounded like a mixture of the trumpet and the pipes. It flicked its huge tail towards Minerva's direction. Several black spikes shot from the armored stinger-tail. They dived into the golden light as if it were a swimming pool.

Several seconds ticked by, instilling anxiety into the environment. Minerva's explosion was developing started to dim. Black dots of darkness appeared on the surface of the light, expanding and multiplying until the golden orb popped like a balloon, sending a jarring wave of air, heat, and light through the stadium.

Minerva landed at my feet, defeated.

* * *

I'm just not feeling this story anymore... I'm fresh out of ideas...


End file.
